EW IN OTHER NEWS
84
July 2015
He began conducting a popu-
lation-based survey of glaucoma in
Bhaktapur, a Nepali district east of
Kathmandu. Through his research,
which became known as the Bhak-
tapur Glaucoma Study, Dr. Thapa
recorded the first data on the preva-
lence and types of glaucoma, retinal
diseases, and cataracts in the region.
The groundbreaking study
attracted the attention of several
physicians in the Netherlands, and
one suggested that Dr. Thapa use
the research as the basis for a PhD
dissertation. He was initially reluc-
tant, but a professor allowed him
to enroll as a graduate student at
Vrije University in Amsterdam while
continuing his work in Nepal. The
strategy worked, and after spending
just a few weeks in the Netherlands,
Dr. Thapa received his PhD in
2011—becoming the first Nepalese
ophthalmologist to do so.
Uniting his 2 passions
Under Dr. Thapa's leadership, the
Tilganga glaucoma department has
become a fellowship training center
and the main referral clinic for glau-
coma patients in Nepal. In addition,
through a collaboration with the
University of Iowa and the Johns
Hopkins University, Tilganga physi-
cians are now using an iPad app to
screen for glaucoma throughout the
country. But Dr. Thapa has found a
way to have an even bigger im-
pact on eyecare in Nepal—through
music.
conducted 2 medical camps and
have 10 more planned throughout
the year.
The Rusty Nails also took part
in Play for Nepal, a 16-band charity
concert for earthquake victims, on
June 20. They plan to finish the rest
of their charity concert series later
this year.
It may seem difficult to balance
careers in both music and medicine,
but to Dr. Thapa, it comes naturally.
Music balances his life, he said, and
everything he does comes from his
heart.
"I really believe in karma," he
said. "As much as we want to earn
money, I think earning good karma
is also important—and good karma
is harder to earn than money." EW
Editors' note: Dr. Thapa has no finan-
cial interests related to his comments.
Contact information
Thapa: sumansthapa@yahoo.com
In 2013, Dr. Thapa joined the
Rusty Nails, a band he describes as
a group of hard-core blues-jazz mu-
sicians. The Rusty Nails picked up
where Donesis left off, performing
charity concerts to combat blindness
in Nepal. Last year, they pledged
to perform 6 concerts—1 every 2
months for a year—and donate all
the proceeds to Tilganga to cover the
cost of glaucoma surgery for chil-
dren. So far, they have performed 4
of 6 concerts and raised more than 2
million rupees.
Their fifth concert was sched-
uled for April 25—the day a 7.8-
magnitude earthquake hit Nepal,
killing more than 8,000 people and
displacing more than 450,000. Al-
though the earthquake disrupted the
Rusty Nails' concert schedule, it did
not slow Dr. Thapa—he brought to-
gether volunteer doctors of various
specialties to conduct free medical
camps in the hardest-hit areas of the
country. So far, the volunteers have
From guitar to glaucoma continued from page 83
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Dr. Thapa examines a patient after the April 25 earthquake in Nepal.
Source (all): Suman Thapa, MD, PhD
The April 25 earthquake in Nepal left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and flattened
entire villages.
